No orders to halt fire in Libya despite UN plea: CF official

Canadian Forces have received no instruction from NATO or political masters to halt air strikes in Libya, a military spokesman said Wednesday, after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for an “immediate ceasefire.”

After a week of intensified NATO strikes, Canadian Brig.-Gen. Richard Blanchette conceded the civil war in the region will not be resolved by bombs alone.

“From a military perspective, we are currently very much aware that we need to have a political solution to this conflict. There is no pure military solution to it,” he told reporters during a briefing to update the mission. “The communications between organizations such as the UN and NATO are obviously part of that solution, and from a military perspective we continue with the mission with the instruction we get from our political guidance.”

CF-18 jets have made 34 strikes in the last week, bringing Canada’s total to 242 since the mission began in late March. Blanchette said Canadian planes have hit a number of targets including storage facilities, tanks and armoured vehicles in the last week — all of them linked to threats against civilians on the ground.

The Canadian sorties are among more than 6,000 carried out by NATO forces since commanding military operations in Libya, including 2,400 strike missions. Blanchette said a pilot swap-out will take place in the next 10 days, but the rotation is not related to the mission timeline.

The current three-month mandate is set to run until June 16, and no plan to alter that timeline has been announced.

“The Canadian Forces will stand ready to continue following the guidance we are receiving from our political masters,” he said.

Jay Paxton, spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, said Canada will work with allies to promote and support all aspects of the UN-backed mission.

“Air Force assets will remain deployed for as long as required to accomplish the mission – helping to protect the Libyan people under threat of attack,” he told iPolitics.

Any extension beyond three months would require parliamentary approval. Prime Minister Stephen Harper consulted with party leaders prior to deploying and would continue to do so, Paxton said.

Blanchette said Canadian pilots are “extremely judicious” in supporting NATO’s goal of minimizing casualties and protecting civilians, and that NATO determines the tempo of operation, including the intensification of air strikes.

“Depending on what they see on the ground, what they see pro-Gadhafi forces doing, they would adjust, and they would decide were their actions would be conducted,” he said. “The decision to tactically put more pressure in one area or another is a NATO decision.”

Blanchette could not comment on the extent to which NATO or the Canadian Forces are working with Libyan rebel forces.